Hand grip for exercise yoke

ABSTRACT

Exercise equipment is provided with a hand gripping assembly having a solid bar or yoke having a longitudinal axis. Extending radially from the longitudinal axis of the solid bar or yoke is a gripping assembly. The structure of the gripping assembly is a connecting bar that has one end of an axis of the connecting bar that engages the solid bar or yoke through a rotating joint, and the connecting bar having a second end on the axis of the connecting bar, the second end rotating along the axis of the connecting bar through the rotating joint.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

The present application has no claim for priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 or35 U.S.C. 120.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the filed of exercise equipment,exercise equipment using contact with the hands or feet, and especiallyexercise equipment that is pushed or pulled by limbs acting in symmetry.

2. Background of the Art

Exercise has become an essential part of a regimen for health and mentalwell-being. It is part of this regimen to assure that there is a properbalance in the format of the exercise. Even though swimming may be anearly ideal form of exercise, it does not fully and equally exerciseopposing muscles or provide enough resistance for bulk muscles. Toassist in complete muscle development, exercise equipment has beendeveloped to enhance the different patterns of muscle use.

Although equipment may be used for specific muscle training anddevelopment, it is not always ergonomically effective or safe. Variousstructures have been taught to facilitate hand, wrist, ankle and legmovements in exercise equipment. Among these structures are U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,399,133; 5,062,633; 5,080,349; 5,273,509; and 4,690,400.

One of the problems with conventional exercise machines is that theyoften have fixed hand grips or pedals. These hand grips have severalshortcomings. Because the spatial orientation of the hand grip is fixedrelative to the machine, the muscle groups used are often flexed in onlya single plane. This tends to overuse certain muscles and under useother muscles because of the restricted nature of the movement. Anotherproblem which has arisen is the incidence of injury to the user,including carpal tunnel syndrome. It is believed that this occursbecause the fixed grip units cause the hand and forearm to often bemisaligned since the machine is not specially fitted to each individualuser. Even if a fixed grip were fitted to a particular user, many, ifnot most, exercises can cause the hand and forearm to become misalignedover much of the exercise movement. It is believed that thismisalignment of the hand and forearm can cause various problems,including carpal tunnel syndrome. Similar problems can arise from footpedals which are fixed or pivot about only a single axis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to appendage interface assemblies,typically a hand grip assembly, used with an exercise machine to reducesome of the angular misalignment problems of conventional hand gripswhile increasing the benefits of the exercise. The hand grip assembly isparticularly effective in an exercise yoke system where the hands andarms move in tandem and symmetry, with the hand grips positioned insymmetry with a connecting yoke or bar.

The hand grip assembly on each hand grip independently rotates in onedimension to enable the hands and wrist to pronate about an axistranslated along a connecting bar between the grips and the yoke or bar.The connecting bar may be rigidly connected to the yoke or provided witha 360 degree rotating connection (e.g., ball bearing, arm and socket).By 360 connection it is meant that from a single perpendicular alignmentof the connecting bar and the yoke, the connecting bar may be movedalong any angle about the connection, even though the range of movementis limited by the physical constraints of the yoke or bar.

The yoke or bar may be straight or curved or angular, but the hand gripsshould be approximately symmetrical with respect to the application offorce through the hand grips. By symmetrical is does not mean that thegrips are visually symmetrical with respect to the entire yoke or barstructure, but rather that the grips are symmetrical with respect to theapplication of the hands and arms to the grips.

The yoke or bar may be connected in turn to a cable, cords, cables,pulleys, chains, gears or other resistance or inertial systems.

The hand grip assembly includes an assembly support securable to theexercise machine. An intermediate support is pivotally mounted to theassembly support, a hand grip support is pivotally mounted to theintermediate support, and a hand grip is pivotally mounted to the handgrip support by first, second and third pivots for movement about first,second and third axes respectively. This arrangement provides agyroscopic-type hand grip assembly to permit the user to grasp the handgrip and orient the hand grip in virtually any desired spatialorientation; doing can minimize or eliminate any angular misalignmentbetween the hand and forearm. The hand grip assembly preferably providesa hand grip in which the pivots are permitted to pivot freely or topivot with a drag or retarding force hindering the pivotal motion. Thedrag or retarding force applied at the pivots preferably can be madesufficiently large to enable the user to selectively lock, for example,the first and second pivots, so to fix the angular orientation of thehand grip when desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a top view of an angular yoke or bar assembly according tothe present teachings.

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the grip attachment of the presentteachings.

FIG. 3 shows a section of the yoke used in a preferred structure for thepresent teachings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The system of the present invention may work with foot grips or handgrips, but because of the nature of most exercise equipment focusing onupper body strength and arm strength, and the motions performed inexercising for these particular efforts, the system is most applicablefor hand grips.

The hand grip assembly on each hand grip is attached to a yoke or barfor assurance of symmetry in hand and arm action. The grips may be usedon separate and independent hand/arm movement elements (e.g., individualpulleys), but the natural flexibility of the pulley cable or cord itselfacts as an ergonomic facilitator for flexibility in the exerciseactivity, so the benefits of the present technology are still evident,but not as significant. Each hand grip independently rotates in at leastone one dimension to enable the hands and wrist to pronate about an axistranslated along a connecting bar between the grips and the yoke or bar.The connecting bar may be rigidly connected or rotationally connected tothe yoke or provided with a 360 degree rotating connection (e.g., ballbearing, arm, spring-lock engagement, ball and socket, etc.). By a 360connection it is meant that from a single perpendicular alignment of theconnecting bar and the yoke, the connecting bar may be moved, rotated,pronated, and adjusted along any angle (e.g., 0 to 360°) about theconnection. Even though the range of movement is limited in somedirections by the physical constraints of the yoke or bar, the initialmovement of the connecting bar may be directed in any of 360 degreesaround the connecting point.

The yoke or bar may be straight or curved or angular, but the hand gripsshould be approximately symmetrical with respect to the application offorce through the hand grips. By symmetrical is does not mean that thegrips are visually symmetrical with respect to the entire yoke or barstructure, but rather that the grips are symmetrical with respect to theapplication of the hands and arms to the grips.

The yoke or bar may be connected in turn to a cable, cords, cables,pulleys, chains, gears or other resistance or inertial systems.

The hand grip assembly includes an assembly support securable to theexercise machine. An intermediate support is pivotally mounted to theassembly support, a hand grip support is pivotally mounted to theintermediate support, and a hand grip is pivotally mounted to the handgrip support by first, second and third pivots for movement about first,second and third axes respectively. This arrangement provides agyroscopic-type hand grip assembly to permit the user to grasp the handgrip and orient the hand grip in virtually any desired spatialorientation; doing can minimize or eliminate any angular misalignmentbetween the hand and forearm. The hand grip assembly preferably providesa hand grip in which the pivots are permitted to pivot freely or topivot with a drag or retarding force hindering the pivotal motion. Thedrag or retarding force applied at the pivots preferably can be madesufficiently large to enable the user to selectively lock, for example,the first and second pivots, so to fix the angular orientation of thehand grip when desired.

Reference to the figures may be of assistance in better appreciating thepractice and scope of this technology.

FIG. 1 shows a hand grip and yoke assembly 2 that may be attached to anexercise system, particularly a resistance or weight lifting exercisesystem with a cable connection. The assembly 2 is shown with twoseparate hand grip assemblies 4 and 6 that are attached to a yoke 8. Theseparate hand grip assemblies 4 and 6 have hand grasping elements 10 and12 and connecting bars 14 and 16, respectively. As can be envisionedeasily, twisting the hand grasping elements 10 and 12 should enable theconnecting bars 14 and 16 to rotate within the engaging elements 28 and30 on the ends of the arms 24 and 26 of the yoke 8. For purposes ofillustration, two distinct types of engagement between the connectingbars 14 and 16 are shown. On connecting bar 14, a ball and socketengagement 18 is shown, which allows the 360 degree initial rotationdiscussed above. On connecting bar 16, a simple tube and cylinderrotating socket 32 is formed that allows the connecting bar 16 to rotateabout its longest axis, but does not allow any other significantmovement with respect to the yoke 8. It is desirable, but not essentialthat the grasping elements 10 and 12 be in alignment with each other andhave their centers aligned in an axis A-A′ through the bar or yoke 8 asshown in FIG. 1. This adds to the ergonomic feel of the equipment.Similarly, the spacing between the grasping elements 10 and 12 and therotating hinge should be equal and symmetrical and the distance between10 and 12 may vary to accommodate various exercises and or exercisers.

Also shown on the yoke 8 is a rotating connecting hinge 20. This hingemay rotate freely (or be locked in position) about the yoke 8. On therotating hinge 20 is shown a connecting element (that rotates with therotating hinge 20) to which the exercise equipment (not shown) mayattach. As the hand grip yoke assembly 2 is pulled towards the exerciseror allowed to be withdrawn from the exerciser (by the tension in acable, for example), it is natural for the wrists and hands to slightlyrotate or pronate. This normal hand and wrist action is accommodated bythe hand grip assemblies so that unnecessary or unnatural tension orstress is not placed on the wrist or hands. This can assist in makingthe exercise experience more enjoyable and reducing the possibility ofsome forms of injury, such as Carpel tunnel syndrome and repetitivestress syndrome.

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the hand grip assembly 6 with similarnumbers identifying similar elements disclosed in FIG. 1. The connectingbar 16 is connected through a rotating joint 50 to insertion column 52which has a locking or engaging end 54. The locking or engaging end 54is inserted through hole 58 into receptor column 56 in the engagingelement 30.

FIG. 3 shows the yoke 8 with the connecting hinge 20. The connectinghinge 20 rotates relative to the yoke 8 by rotating over a centralengaging bar 72 which passes through the center 70 of the hinge 20 andengages with th yoke 8 through inderted bar 72 having locking elements74 The materials used in the construction of the system are importantonly with regard to the structural and physical performance propertiesof the systems. For example, the yoke may be made of metal, compositesor polymeric materials, with the hand grips having similar compositionsand ergonomic gripping covers (fabric, rubber, elastomer, leather, etc.)to affords greater comfort. The hinges may be metal, polymeric (e.g.,polysolixane, polyurethane, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyamide, etc.) orcombinations of the two.

Although specific examples of the structures and materials have beenprovided, variations obvious to those skilled in the art can be used asalternatives or variations on the specific disclosure.

1. A gripping assembly for use with exercise equipment comprising asolid bar or yoke having a longitudinal axis and extending radially fromthe longitudinal axis of the solid bar or yoke is a gripping assembly,the gripping assembly comprising: a connecting bar that has one end ofan axis of the connecting bar that engages the solid bar or yoke througha rotating joint, and the connecting bar having a second end on the axisof the connecting bar, the second end rotating along the axis of theconnecting bar through the rotating joint.
 2. The assembly of claim 1wherein the connecting joint is a cylinder that only rotates within theconfines of a receiving sleeve that forms part of the rotating jointstructure on the yoke.
 3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the rotatingjoint comprises a ball and socket joint.
 4. The assembly of claim 1wherein the bar or yoke comprises a yoke having at least two distinctsymmetrical bends therein.
 5. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the bar oryoke comprises a yoke having at least four distinct symmetrical bendstherein.
 6. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the bar or yoke comprises abar having essentially no bends therein.
 7. The assembly of claim 2wherein a central portion of the bar or yoke has a rotating hingeconnector that rotates about the longitudinal axis of the bar or yoke.8. The assembly of claim 3 wherein a central portion of the bar or yokehas a rotating hinge connector that rotates about the longitudinal axisof the bar or
 9. The assembly of claim 7 wherein the rotating hinge hasa connecting element thereon for engaging a cable in an exercise system.10. The assembly of claim 8 wherein the rotating hinge has a connectingelement thereon for engaging a cable in an exercise system.
 11. Theassembly of claim 9 wherein the connecting element is connected with acable that engages weights that are lifted.
 12. The assembly of claim 10wherein the connecting element is connected with a cable that engagesweights that are lifted.
 13. The assembly of claim 4 wherein the yoke orbar has a longitudinal axis and that axis extends through two handgripping elements on the gripping assembly.